Norm Macdonald

Norm Macdonald
Biographical information
Birth name	Norman Gene Macdonald
Plays	Yaphit
Born	October 17, 1959
Died	September 14, 2021
Nationality	Canadian
Gender	Male

Norm Macdonald was a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, writer and producer. He voiced the crew member Yaphit on The Orville, and appeared on screen as Yaphit's simulated-human avatar in the episode A Happy Refrain.

Macdonald passed away on September 14, 2021 after a nine-year private battle with cancer.

Outside of his work on The Orville, Macdonald was an actor of both television and film, as well as a stand-up comic and writer. He was known for a regular role on the comedy series Saturday Night Live and his other voice work included roles on the Seth MacFarlane created Family Guy as well as the Dr. Dolittle films starring Eddie Murphy.

The Orville

From the outset of the show, creator Seth MacFarlane wanted "utterly non-human" aliens for the show to more realistically portray futuristic, sentient life. "It's a sci-fi show," he explained in July 2017. "And budgetary constraints mandate that sci-fi characters be humanoid. But if you talk to physicists they'll tell you, 'It's most likely nothing will look like a human if we find life in space.'" MacFarlane sketched the character of Yaphit on paper, which was fleshed out by Howard Berger. The sketch became "a CGI character that is essentially a gelatinous blob with a sloppy mouth hole," and they needed a voice actor for the role.

Casting Norm Macdonald as Yaphit was remarkably easy and, it appears, without auditions. MacFarlane called Macdonald and asked, "Norm, you want to be a blob?" To which Macdonald replied, "Hell yeah, I'll be a blob." MacFarlane called the casting process a "ten-second phone call" with Macdonald.

During shoots, propmaster Bryan Rodgers placed a model of Yaphit with a microphone on stage while MacDonald spoke his lines from a corner of the studio to the actors.

Macdonald died on September 14, 2021 of cancer, after filming of Season 3 had concluded but in the middle of its post-production, leaving Yaphit's status uncertain. Macdonald had been able to record all of his lines prior to passing. Seth MacFarlane had been unaware of how sick Macdonald was during recording, and he felt "gratitude" that Macdonald had worked through his illness to help the show. The third season premiere, "Electric Sheep," was dedicated to Norm Macdonald. The character of Yaphit, whether voiced by Macdonald or silent, appeared in a minor role throughout the season, with the season finale, "Future Unknown" featuring what is assumed to be Macdonald's final vocal performance as Yaphit, though it is not yet known whether this is also the final appearance of the character.

Trivia

• He spells his name with a lowercase 'd'
• Seth had Norm appear in the studio to voice his lines rather than record them remotely because he believed the acting performance improves when the actor is immersed in the show's environment.
• He attended the same college as director Jon Cassar separated by one year.

See also

• The World of the Orville, page 67